Baseball Plays Host To Tennessee Tech Beginning Thursday

Easter weekend schedule altered due to weather

4/16/2025 2:12:00 PM

Eastern Illinois (16-17, 6-5 OVC) vs. Tennessee Tech (24-13, 9-3 OVC)
April 17-18 | Charleston, Ill. | Coaches Stadium

Game 1 (DH): Thu., April 17 at 11 a.m. | Watch | Live Stats
Game 2 (DH): Thu., April 17 at 2:30 p.m. | Watch | Live Stats
Game 3: Fri., April 18 at 12 p.m. | Watch | Live Stats

LEADING OFF: After a midweek victory over Saint Xavier on Tuesday, the Eastern Illinois baseball team is set to host OVC leader Tennessee Tech for a three-game Easter weekend series. All three games have been moved up due to unfavorable weather forecasts.

SERIES HISTORY: In a series that dates back to 1978, the Golden Eagles hold a narrow 45-43 series lead over the Panthers. EIU lost two of three against TTU in Cookeville last season as they won the series opener 12-5 before dropping the next two contests by a combined three runs.

TENNESSEE TECH:

Tech enters this weekend with an overall record 24-13 and conference record of 9-3, placing them atop the OVC standings. The Golden Eagles swept Southern Indiana at home last weekend.
TTU is batting .270 as a team with an on-base percentage of .387. Mack Whitcomb leads the Golden Eagles with a batting average of .366, which is fifth best in the OVC. He also leads the team in hits (49), runs scored (36), homers (9), doubles (11), and RBIs (34), which are all top ten in the conference. He leads the league with an on-base percentage of .494.
Eddie Garza won the latest OVC Player of the Week award after hitting .667 (8-12) with four runs, three homers, nine RBIs, and a 1.417 slugging percentage over four games last week.
TTU's team ERA of 5.59 is third best in the conference. They have allowed the most hits (368) in the league, but the fourth fewest runs (234).
Jaxson Pease is 5-1 with an ERA of 3.91, which is fifth best in the OVC. His 7.63 strikeouts per game average is tenth in the conference.
Tech is led by 19th year head coach Matt Bragga, who is in his second stint with the Golden Eagles.

LAST TIME OUT: EIU picked up a convincing midweek win with a 13-3 run-rule victory over Saint Xavier at Coaches Stadium on Tuesday afternoon.

Twelve of the Panthers' 13 runs were earned as they racked up 14 hits on the day. Chris Worcester led the charge with three hits in six at-bats while driving in a team-high three runs. Brett Stanley and Colin Horneman also posted multi-hit, multi-RBI performances with two hits and two RBIs apiece. Meanwhile Mike O'Conor joined the multi-hit club going 2-4 with an RBI.

Five EIU pitchers saw action in the game, with starter Christian Carew getting his fourth win of the season after allowing no earned runs on two hits with four strikeouts through two innings.

CONFERENCE STANDINGS: Tennessee Tech leads the OVC with a record of 9-3. They are followed by SEMO and SIUE, who are tied for second with records of 8-4. Southern Indiana is alone in fourth place with a record of 7-5, while EIU and Lindenwood are tied for fifth at 6-5.

QUICK HITTERS:

The Panthers are batting .273 with an OVC best .395 on-base percentage. They have scored the most runs in the league (259) with the second most RBIs (230).

Jake Ferguson is second in the OVC with an on-base percentage of .482, while Chris Worcester also cracks the top 10 with an OBP of .436.

Worcester is batting .331 and leads the team in hits (43), doubles (9), and multi-hit games (14). He is tied with Mike O'Conor for the team lead in multi-RBI games with seven.

O'Conor has reached base in a team-high 17 consecutive games. He leads the squad in home runs (7), RBIs (24) and slugging percentage (.646).

Eastern leads the conference in sacrifice bunts with 42, which is 19 more than the next closest team. Ethan Rossi is tied for the OVC lead with six sac bunts.

The Panthers' 48 stolen bases are third most in the league. Brett Stanley is tied for third in the conference with 15 stolen bases.

EIU has a team ERA of 5.25 with a .271 batting average against, both of which are second best in the conference. They have allowed the fewest hits (218) and fewest earned runs (172) in the OVC.

The Panthers have allowed the second fewest walks in the league (117) while posting 231 strikeouts for a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 1.97, which is also second best in the OVC.

Christian Carew leads the team in wins with a 4-1 record, recording a win in each of his last four appearances. In those four victories, Carew has a perfect ERA with nine strikeouts and a .189 batting average against.

Bryce Riggs has a team-best 2.33 ERA with two saves. He has 23 strikeouts through 27.0 innings pitched.

CATEGORY LEADERS:
Hits – Chris Worcester (43), Brett Stanley (33), Jake Ferguson (28)
Home Runs – Mike O'Conor (7), Ethan Rossi (5), Eli Hill (3)
RBI – Mike O'Conor (24), Tyler Castro/Brett Stanley (23), Jake Ferguson (22)
Strikeouts – Tyler Conklin (36), Tyler Kapraun (35), Dalton Boruff (28)
Wins – Christian Carew (4), Tyler Conklin/Anthony Solis (3), Eli Cartwright/Tyler Kapraun/Nate Marshall (2)

ON DECK: The Panthers are scheduled for a pair of midweek games next week, beginning with a trip to Indianapolis to face Butler at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, April 22nd. Eastern will then host Illinois Wesleyan at 3 p.m. the following day before heading to Evansville for a three-game set at Southern Indiana next weekend.

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